The present invention relates to an image recording unit which can pivot an image recording unit main body formed into, e.g., a spherical shape, in the direction of a photographing object like the behavior of an eyeball, and a camera having the image recording unit.
As a conventional mechanism for changing the photographing direction of a camera, a system in which a camera main body is attached onto a rotary base (panhead), and the rotary base is motor-driven has been proposed.
However, in the above-mentioned conventional mechanism for changing the photographing direction of the camera, a driving device for rotation is arranged outside the camera main body, resulting in a large structure. In this case, attainable size reduction of a device for fetching an image is limited. In particular, in order to assemble this device in a robot""s eye (image input device), the conventional structure has a considerable limitation in size.
Noise upon driving is not small in the conventional mechanism since a device for rotation is arranged outside the camera main body in the conventional mechanism.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above situation, and has as its principal object to provide an image recording unit, which pivots an image recording unit main body with a photographing optical system, which includes at least a photographing lens and an image pickup element, like the behavior of an eyeball in place of rotating a camera itself to which the photographing optical system is attached, and which unit can make the camera compact as a whole, and can reduce noise.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a compact, lightweight, low-noise camera attached with the image recording unit which can realize the above object.
One aspect of the application is to provide an image pickup device or a camera which has a unit main body including an imaging lens and an image pickup means or a film in a support member having a spherical portion on its outer surface, and a driving unit for independently rotating the unit main body about at least two orthogonal axes.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and to achieve the above objects, an image recording unit according to another aspect of the present invention is characterized by the following arrangement.
More specifically, there is provided an image recording unit comprising: an image recording unit main body which accommodates at least an imaging lens and one of image pickup means and a film in a case, and has a spherical surface portion for defining a driving surface at least on an outer surface of the case; support means for rotatably supporting the image recording unit main body to have a crossing point of at least two orthogonal axes as a center of rotation of the spherical portion; and frictional driving means for frictionally driving the image recording unit main body independently in arbitrary directions by a frictional force generated between the driving surface and the support means.
With the above arrangement, the image recording unit main body can be pivoted like the behavior of an eyeball, and a photographing operation can be performed by pivoting only the image recording unit main body in an arbitrary direction. Since the driving operation of the image recording unit main body depends on frictional driving between the support means and the image recording unit, quiet and smooth pivotal motion can be attained. Furthermore, as compared to a conventional mechanism which pivots the entire camera using a panhead, since only the image recording unit main body is driven, a driving load is small, and power consumption can be saved. In addition, since the conventional mechanism using the panhead drives the entire heavy camera using a reduction mechanism, the output must be increased to increase the pivot speed, and it is difficult to stop the camera at a desired position due to a large moment of inertia. In contrast to this, since an object to be driven is the lightweight image recording unit main body, the pivot speed can be increased, and positioning precision can be improved. Furthermore, the image recording unit main body can be driven to have a crossing point of three orthogonal axes as a center.
An image recording unit according to still another aspect of the present invention is characterized by the following arrangement.
That is, there is provided an image recording unit comprising: an image recording unit main body which accommodates at least a photographing lens and photographing means in a case; two-axial direction support means, having a crossing point between orthogonal first and second axes as a center of rotation of the image recording unit main body, for independently pivotally supporting the image recording unit main body to have the first and second axes as centers; and driving means for driving the image recording unit main body independently in the two axial directions.
With this arrangement, the same effect as in the above-mentioned arrangement can be obtained. In addition, since the image recording unit main body is supported by the two-axial direction support means, the image recording unit main body can be reliably moved in each axial direction.
A camera according to the present invention is characterized by the following arrangement.
That is, an image recording unit described in any one of appended claims 1 to 13 is attached to a camera main body.
With this arrangement, a photographing operation can be performed by turning the image recording unit in an arbitrary direction without pivoting the camera itself.
Other objects and advantages besides those discussed above shall be apparent to those skilled in the art from the description of a preferred embodiment of the invention which follows. In the description, reference is made to accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and which illustrate an example of the invention. Such example, however, is not exhaustive of the various embodiments of the invention, and therefore reference is made to the claims which follow the description for determining the scope of the invention.